Convictions and Boycotts
Meaning to post about this for a while. I keep forgetting:
I'm a bit conflicted on morality. Mostly on boycotts. I found out from a friend that Wendy's food chain donates money to anti-gay causes. So I've since stopped going to Wendys as a means of peaceful protest.
While it does follow logic that 'if the cause is bad, I don't support the industry, therefore not supporting the cause'.... I'm still having an issue understanding boycotts.
You see, when I was much younger the Southern Baptist Church decided to boycott Disney because 40% of their working population was glbt. This ticked my little 11yr old self off so badly that I went out and bought something Disney even though I wasn't such a big Disney fan and had no clue I was part of the glbt community (nor did I know anyone who was. It just felt like an injustice, it didn't matter to whom). It was then that I got it into my brain that BOYCOTTS = BAD.
So now here I am an adult. A logical being. A mostly rational thinker... and I'm just having trouble wrapping my mind about it not being okay for southern baptists to boycott Disney, but it is okay for me to boycott Wendys. I went through the same issue in boycotting BP.
If Wendys as an industry goes under do to lack of business, that means hundreds of jobs are gone. The individuals would pay for the industries' indigressions.
and so I'm back to my 'Boycotts = bad' logic.
But then again, how could I support an industry that actively does not support me a an individual.
But then I'm thrown back to: does the individual matter so much as the overall socio-economic endeavor?
::Sigh:: In conclusion, I'm still avoiding Wendys. But I'm feeling guilt. But then I'm feeling self-righteous which is dwarfing the guilt. Then I'm feeling humbled... which is making me feel bad about the whole thing.
And this is one example of why there's no black and white between good an evil. It's all in shades of gray.
I'm a bit conflicted on morality. Mostly on boycotts. I found out from a friend that Wendy's food chain donates money to anti-gay causes. So I've since stopped going to Wendys as a means of peaceful protest.
While it does follow logic that 'if the cause is bad, I don't support the industry, therefore not supporting the cause'.... I'm still having an issue understanding boycotts.
You see, when I was much younger the Southern Baptist Church decided to boycott Disney because 40% of their working population was glbt. This ticked my little 11yr old self off so badly that I went out and bought something Disney even though I wasn't such a big Disney fan and had no clue I was part of the glbt community (nor did I know anyone who was. It just felt like an injustice, it didn't matter to whom). It was then that I got it into my brain that BOYCOTTS = BAD.
So now here I am an adult. A logical being. A mostly rational thinker... and I'm just having trouble wrapping my mind about it not being okay for southern baptists to boycott Disney, but it is okay for me to boycott Wendys. I went through the same issue in boycotting BP.
If Wendys as an industry goes under do to lack of business, that means hundreds of jobs are gone. The individuals would pay for the industries' indigressions.
and so I'm back to my 'Boycotts = bad' logic.
But then again, how could I support an industry that actively does not support me a an individual.
But then I'm thrown back to: does the individual matter so much as the overall socio-economic endeavor?
::Sigh:: In conclusion, I'm still avoiding Wendys. But I'm feeling guilt. But then I'm feeling self-righteous which is dwarfing the guilt. Then I'm feeling humbled... which is making me feel bad about the whole thing.
And this is one example of why there's no black and white between good an evil. It's all in shades of gray.